Attachment for floor sanders or the like



March 6, 1951 F. c. COOKE ATTACHMENT FOR FLOOR SANDERS OR THE LIKE 2Sheets-Sheet l Filed Feb. 5, 1947 l el March 6, 1951 F. c. cooKE2,544,377

ATTACHMENT FOR FLOOR SANDERS OR THE LIKE Filed Feb. 5, 1947 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 6, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT omer:

.ATTACHMENT .FOR FLOOR SANDERS '0R THE LIKE 'Francis C. Booke, Hartford,Conn.

Application February 5, 1947, Serial 'No.'726,556

(Cl. l-177) 1 Glaim.

T his invention relates to an attachment for licor-sanding machines, andmore particularly to an attachment which will enable the Asanding ofoors to be effected under radiators or articles of furniture and inother locations which cannot be reached with the usual machine.

When floors are reinished, this, of course, is ordinarily done with aso-called sanding `machine, usually electrically driven. ,In addition tothe machines for sanding the main portion of the floor, so-callededgersJ are provided which enable the sanding of areas close lto thewalls or baseboards o f the room which cannot Zbe done with the largermachines, and this saves Athe hand scraping of lsuch areas. However,even with such machines, it is 'not possible to scrape any `portion ofthe floor `which is not accessible from above, and, therefore, 'suchportions as may be under radiators or articles of furniture which may bepermanent or difficult to move cannot be reached.

I contemplate by the present invention vthe provision of an attachmentwhich may be readily and easily applied to existing machines, theattachment being adapted to project 'laterally from 'the body of themachine and being -of very low height, so that it can extend below aradiator or any article of furniture which may "be spaced even a shortdistance above the liioor level. Moreover, the sanding disk isApositioned at the extreme end of the attachment, so that the oor may bescraped substantially flush with the wall or baseboard, and a clean `jobaccomplished.

One object of the invention is to vprovide an attachment for floorSanders which will enable the scraping of iioors below Iarticles offurniture.

A further object of the invention is to provide a floor sandercomprising a laterally extending arm or support which carries a sandingdisk, this support being of low height and projecting laterally from themain frame of the sander, whereby it may extend -under articles offurniture.

Astill further .object of the invention is to pro-` vide an attachmentwhich may be readily and easily connected to a sanding machine, theattachment extending laterally from the body of the machine and carryinga rotating sanding disk and driving connections between this disk andthe drive of the sanding machine.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features andcombinations 0f Parts to be hereinafter described and'claimed.

lathe .acoompariyne drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a 4floor-sand- 2 ing machine havingmy attachment applied thereto;

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are fragmentary eleva-tional views of the lower portionof the machine, showtate the disk I2 to sand or scrape the floor.

ing the manner of securing the attachment 'to the case;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the attachment removed from the machine;

Fig. 6 is a sectional View on line 6--3 of Fig. 5;

Fig. '7 is a bottom plan vview of the attachment;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view on line `8--8 of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 9 'is a sectional view through the drive pulley.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, Thave shown afloor-sanding machine having a housing I, the longitudinal dimension ofwhich is generally vertically disposed. To this housing is secured alower housing II in which "is mounted the sanding disk I2 (Fig. 6),which is adapted to carry the `sheet of sandpaper or other abrasivematerial ina well-known manner. The disk I2 is secured `to the lower endof a shaft I3, Vthis shaft being rotatably mounted in the housing andsuitably driven so as to ro- It maybe noted that the portion II of thehousing is open at the bottom to permit the abrasive sheet mounted uponthe disk I2 to contact the oor.

As shown in Fig. 4, the lower housing portion III is provided with alaterally projecting ear ill, and, as will be explained hereinafter,this is employed to secure the attachment in place. Likewise, lugs I5are provided upon the housing I0 to receive bolts I6 to secure the twoportions of the housing together, and under the head of one of thesebolts may be secured a hook-shaped member I'I, which may also beemployed to secure the attachment in place, as will be more fullydescribed later.

As shown more especially in Figs. 5 to 8 of the drawings, the attachmentcomp-rises a supporting casing 20, this casing being hollow and providedwith upper and lower walls 2| and 22. In the upper Wall is provided arelatively large upwardly facing opening 23 which communicates with thedownwardly facing opening in the housing II through which the disk I2projects. The lower wall 22 of the casing 20 is provided with adownwardly facing opening `24 through which projects a sanding disk 25carried by a hub 26 rotatably mounted in the casing, this hub beingprovided with a vbelt or pulley groove 21. A sheet of sandpaper'or otherabrasive 28 is secured to the disk by means of a screw 41. to bedescribed hereinafter.

It has already been stated that the disk I2 carried by the verticalshaft I3 of the sander is adapted to support an abrasive disk upon itslower face. This sheet of abrasive material is adapted to be secured inplace by a screw threaded into the shaft I3 which is provided with athreaded opening 36 for this purpose.

For applying my attachment to the machine, I provide a pulley 3| havinga threaded screw 32 secured thereto which may be threadingly received inthe opening 3E) when the screw which normally holds the abrasive sheetin place has been removed, so that the pulley 3| may then be rigidlysecured to the shaft |3 below the disk |2. A belt 34 is trained aroundthe pulley 3| and the grooved hub 26 of the disk 25, whereby, when theshaft I3 is rotated, the disk 25 will likewise be rotated. It will,therefore, be noted that the driving mechanism which normally drives thedisk I 2 of the sanding machine will be employed to drive the sandingdisk 25 of my attachment, and, if the pulleys 3| and 26 are ofsubstantially the same diameter, the disk 25 will be rotated at the samespeed as would usually be imparted to the disk My attachment is appliedto the lower face of the housing portion II, the latter being adapted torest upon the rear portion of the casing 26 or that portion surroundingthe opening 23. In order that the attachment may be readily secured inplace without the use of tools, I provide the attaching devices shown inFigs. l to 4.

To this end, a bail or looped member 36 is pivoted at 31 to a lug 38upon the case 20, and pivoted to the upper end of this loop member is ametal strip or plate 39, the depending free end of which may be engagedin the hook 40 of the member I1. It will be seen that, after engagingthis end of the member 39 in the hook 46, the upper end of the loop 36may be moved toward the casing or to the left, as shown in Fig. 3, andthus move the arms of the loop 36 past dead center position, as shown inthis figure, so as to secure the casing 26 to the housing II. In theposition of the parts shown in Fig. 3, the tension upon the loop 36would tend to move this loop toward the casing instead of moving ittoward the right, or away from the casing, as would be necessary todisconnect the parts. I have found that this is a very convenient andsatisfactory manner of securing the parts together, so that theattachment may be readily attached or detached without the use of tools.

Similarly, another loop or hasp member 4I is pivoted to the casing 26 at42, and to the upper end of this loop is also pivoted a metal strip orplate 43, which is designed to engage the upper surface of the lug I4rearwardly of the bolt `44, and the loop 4I may also be moved againstthe housing past dead center position so as to secure the casing inplace at the side of the housing opposite the loop 36.

As shown more especially in Figs. 1 and '1, casters are provided uponthe lower surface of the casing 20, these casters being below thatportion of the casing which supports the housing Ill, so that the weightof the sanding machine will be carried upon these casters. At itsforward end, the casing 20 is adapted to be supported from the floor bythe safnding disk 25, so that the latter will be in contact with thefloor.

In Fig. 8 of the drawings, I have shown in detail the manner of securingthe pulley hub 26 in place. This hub is threaded upon the screw 41 whichwill preferably be provided with left-hand threads so that the rotationof the disk will not tend to loosen it from the screw. This screw 41 iscarried by the inner race 48 of a ball bearing. the outer race 49 ofwhich is received snugly in an opening 50 of the upper wall 2| of thecasing 20. This outer race 49 of the ball bearing may be held againstremoval by screws 5I, the heads of which underlie the edges of the race49, and these screws 5I may be inserted through openings 52 in thepulley hub 26.

In assembling the parts, the screw 41 is placed within the ball bearingbefore the latter is inserted into the opening 50, and this screw may beheld against rotation by a screwdriver or the like applied to the slot53 in its upper end, while the hub 26 is screwed firmly thereon. Theball bearing may then be placed in the opening 50 and the screws 5|inserted through the openings 52 to hold the bearing in place.

Thereafter, the abrasive sheet 28 may be placed upon the disk 25 andsecured thereto by the nut 54 threaded upon the lower reduced end 55 ofthe screw 41. This portion of the screw will preferably carry the usualright-hand thread. If desired, a disk of cushioning material 56 may beplaced between the disk 25 and the abrasive sheet 28, and it will benoted that the pulley hub 26 is slightly countersunk, so that the nut54, when screwed in place. will lie above the surface of the abrasivesheet 28 in order that the latter may properly contact the oor and thenut be held out of engagement with the floor.

It will be apparent that in attaching my device to a floor sander, it isonly necessary to remove from the opening 30 of the shaft |3 the usualscrew which holds the abrasive disk and insert in its place the screw 32of the pulley 3|. The attachment can then be secured in place by meansof the loops 4| and 36, and the device is ready for use.

'It will be also appreciated that, as the casing 2| extends laterallyfrom the housing portions I6 and and is of very low height, it willenable the sanding of floor areas which cannot be reached with the usualmachine. Moreover, as the sanding disk 25 is positioned at the extremeouter end of the attachment, floor areas adjacent walls or baseboards orother obstructions on the floor may be reached without leaving anunsanded area adjacent thereto.

At the upper portion of the casing 20, and adjacent the opening 23, areprovided supporting platforms 23a to which the casters 45 are secured.It will also be noted that the lower wall 22 of the casing is removableand secured in place by screws 22a, as shown in Fig. '7, in order thataccess may be had to the belt 34 and pulley 3|.

As shown in Fig. 9 of the drawings, the pulley 3| is preferably made intwo sections 66 and 6|, respectively, which sections are detachably heldtogether by screws 62. Between the sections may be placed one or moreshims 63. By removing the screw 62 and increasing or decreasing thenumber of shims, the pulley grooves may be adjusted in width to adjustthe tension upon the belt 34. It will be obvious that, when the twosections 6I) and 6I of the pulley are brought closer together, the beltwill be tightened.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention,it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the detailsshown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit ofthe invention and within the scope of the claim.

What I claim is:

An attachment for floor-sanding machines having a housing provided witha downwardly- 5 facing opening and a rotating sanding disk projectingthrough said opening for contact with the floor. said attachmentcomprising a hollow casing having an upwardly-directed opening adjacentits rear end and a downwardly-directed opening 10 adjacent its frontend, means for attaching the casing to the housing of the sandingmachine to support the latter from the floor with the upwardly-directedopening of the casing registering with the downwardly-directed openingof the 1 housing to receive the sanding disk in the latter whereby thesanding machine is supported from the iioor'upon the portion of thecasing about said opening, a second sanding disk rotatably mounted inthe casing on a substantially vertical 20 axis and projecting downwardlythrough the front opening of the casing, means drivingly connecting saidsanding disks including a pulley adapted to be secured to each of saiddisks and a belt connecting said pulleys and extending rthrough saidhollow casing, said casing being closed except for said opening and itsinterior providing a passage for the belt and abraded material,supporting platforms provided on said casing adjacent and at the rear ofsaid upwardlydirected opening, and floor-engaging casters secured to theunderside of said platforms.

FRANCIS C. COOKE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,299,989 Miller Apr. 8, 19191,466,606 Trageser et al Aug. 28, 1923 1,891,175 Petersen Dec. 13, 19322,079,946 MyersV May 11, 1937 2,097,806 Weidrich Nov. 2, 1937

